Maybe instead of buying authenticators just learn how to not open up a damn email from blizzard, buying gold or getting malware/viruses on your computer. And if malware/viruses is your problem, I hope you don't use credit/debit cards online or use paypal.

Maybe instead of buying authenticators just learn how to not open up a damn email from blizzard, buying gold or getting malware/viruses on your computer. And if malware/viruses is your problem, I hope you don't use credit/debit cards online or use paypal.

Someone who must be new to the internet or very naive.

You can be perfectly innocent and get compromised. One keylogger. A malicious payload from an innocent looking site. It doesn't matter how well you think you can hide and be free from the junk, they will find a way to compromise your account. Through the backdoor or through the front.

Blizzard even suffered from the same before MoP. We were all required to change passwords in the mess.

So if Blizzard isn't safe, you're not going to be.

Authenticator is another lock on your account to prevent someone trying to break in, even if a keylogger was on your machine, they still need the numbers from the Authenticator to get in. No numbers Blizzard nabs them for suspicious activity (as they can't have dictionary attacks, either).

If you're thinking you're helping Blizzard, you are not. You would help Blizzard to fire it's legal staff who believes the price of doing business is keeping them fat, while hundreds of millions of gamers dollars goes up in smoke in legal fees. Help Blizzard using common sense.

From the #1 Cata review on Amazon.com: "Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes.
They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community."

It's pretty much Blizzard's fault. The authenticator should be shipped with the product, or sent after an online purchase. It would actually be cheaper, since shipping is already built into the retail box. It's also half-ass security to use people's email address as the account name. Hacks went through the roof when they started that shit. They basically gave hackers half the equation, and a way to contact and phish for the rest. Wtf? Now, it's a video game... and it's their video game... so I don't agree with the lawsuit. If you don't like it, don't play. I just agree that their dedication to the security of accounts is complete and utter garbage.

You can be perfectly innocent and get compromised. One keylogger. A malicious payload from an innocent looking site. It doesn't matter how well you think you can hide and be free from the junk, they will find a way to compromise your account. Through the backdoor or through the front.

So explain again, please, why it is appearently Blizzard's job to go above and beyond the call of duty to protect your account from compromises that occur on YOUR end of the computer? There are millions of people out there with Bnet accounts who don't have an authenticator, and have not been compromised. The vast majority of them don't have an authenticator because they dont want one. Why should they be forced to use what is currently an optional, increased form of protection, because a bunch of internet newbies fail at basic home computer security.

Plain and simple, beyond the existing basic protection of a Login and Password for your B.net account, Blizzard is not, and should not, be required to provide any other service. It is acceptable for multitudes of other online services, it is acceptable for Blizzard.

It's pretty much Blizzard's fault. The authenticator should be shipped with the product, or sent after an online purchase. It would actually be cheaper, since shipping is already built into the retail box. It's also half-ass security to use people's email address as the account name. Hacks went through the roof when they started that shit. They basically gave hackers half the equation, and a way to contact and phish for the rest. Wtf?

Yeah, No. It is not Blizzards fault that you cant manage to protect your own computer. Stop expecting everybody else to clean up after your mistakes.

Also, it takes about 20 seconds in the Battle.Net account managment page to change the Email associated with the account, thereby generating a new Login name. 1 minute of work on Bnet and Gmail, and you have a new login, tied to a new Email, that has never been seen anywhere else online but the Bnet databases. Never use that email anywhere other then Bnet, and you have pretty much rendered your account theft proof from everything short of a keylogger running on your machine.

It's pretty much Blizzard's fault. The authenticator should be shipped with the product, or sent after an online purchase.

The money saved in not having to restore compromised accounts because Mr. Noobie didn't know what an authenticator even is to get one (other games don't have a need for them, as other games aren't a botting/gold farming delight with 10 million players, so how can you expect them to know they need it?).

It's common sense to nip the problem in the bud at entry. Not wait for the damage to be done and clean up the mess, later.

It's certainly a cheaper price for doing business than letting SKs and gold farmers destroy accounts, and letting the lawyers clean out the till to fix it.

From the #1 Cata review on Amazon.com: "Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes.
They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community."

So explain again, please, why it is appearently Blizzard's job to go above and beyond the call of duty to protect your account from compromises that occur on YOUR end of the computer? There are millions of people out there with Bnet accounts who don't have an authenticator, and have not been compromised. The vast majority of them don't have an authenticator because they dont want one. Why should they be forced to use what is currently an optional, increased form of protection, because a bunch of internet newbies fail at basic home computer security.

Plain and simple, beyond the existing basic protection of a Login and Password for your B.net account, Blizzard is not, and should not, be required to provide any other service. It is acceptable for multitudes of other online services, it is acceptable for Blizzard.

1. Authenticators are OPTIONAL.
2. They have a free smartphone authenticator.
3. No personal information was stolen during the hack.

I might also add, that if you aren't smart enough to protect your computer, and you DO end up hacked, they tend to offer you a FREE authenticator through your e-mail. My friends all got theirs that way. I got mine through a twitter contest.

Their account name is half the problem, so no, you're absolutely wrong.

From the edit I made to my post as you were posting this:
Also, it takes about 20 seconds in the Battle.Net account managment page to change the Email associated with the account, thereby generating a new Login name. 1 minute of work on Bnet and Gmail, and you have a new login, tied to a new Email, that has never been seen anywhere else online but the Bnet databases. Never use that email anywhere other then Bnet, and you have pretty much rendered your account theft proof from everything short of a keylogger running on your machine.

99% of the time, the reason they have your Email in the first place, is because they troll game related forums looking for people who were dumb enough to expose their email for the world to see. A large percentage of the time, people posting on WoW forums probably registered to that forum with the very email they use as their Bnet account.

From the #1 Cata review on Amazon.com: "Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes.
They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community."

I'm pretty sure Blizzard owns all "our" accounts, so when 'your' account gets hacked 'you' are not losing anything. Blizzard's account is getting hacked, and Blizzard's character is getting his gear sharded and sold and his money sent off (amusingly to another character Blizzard owns). I don't really see how you can sue someone because your log-in security for an account you don't own gets compromised. That'd be like if I gave my e-mail password to a friend and then suddenly changed it so he couldn't log in any more, then deleted everything sent and received.

I'm pretty sure Blizzard owns all "our" accounts, so when 'your' account gets hacked 'you' are not losing anything. Blizzard's account is getting hacked, and Blizzard's character is getting his gear sharded and sold and his money sent off (amusingly to another character Blizzard owns). I don't really see how you can sue someone because your log-in security for an account you don't own gets compromised. That'd be like if I gave my e-mail password to a friend and then suddenly changed it so he couldn't log in any more, then deleted everything sent and received.

They actually lost ownership of the accounts with Real ID. They own our characters, etc. but they cannot own an account with someone else's name tacked to it. It's illegal. They own the virtual data associated with the account, as I said, but we do indeed own the account.

I might also add, that if you aren't smart enough to protect your computer, and you DO end up hacked, they tend to offer you a FREE authenticator through your e-mail.

:Thunk:
:Thunk:
:Thunk:

Repairing the damage afterwards has always been proven to be more costly, time consuming, and flat out NOT a common sense way to treat the problem.

We have people arguing the price of the authenticators. Arguing they lose profit on them. Meanwhile oblivious of the millions lost in man hours alone over the years restoring/fixing/watching/programming -- AFTER the fact.

Authenticators should not be optional. IT should be the price of doing business.

From the #1 Cata review on Amazon.com: "Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes.
They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community."

They actually lost ownership of the accounts with Real ID. They own our characters, etc. but they cannot own an account with someone else's name tacked to it. It's illegal. They own the virtual data associated with the account, as I said, but we do indeed own the account.

From the #1 Cata review on Amazon.com: "Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes.
They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community."

So explain to me why Blizzard even got compromised before MoP? Your beloved leader -- with blue book in hand -- got compromised requiring all it's NA subscribers to change their password.

And you're smug about other people being responsible?

Stop drinking the Kool-Aid and start seeing reality: no one is safe.

Not the Pentagon. Not NASA.

Not you.

OH. MY. GOD.!!1!!11!!!1!??!?1!?

In their current run of nearly 10 years, Blizzard has had their internal account databases compromised a tiny amount. Probably something like twice or three times? And suddenly the world is ending?!?!

News flash my friend. Nearly EVERY Major entity that ever plugged a computer into the net has been compromised at some point in their existance.

The lawsuit has almost NOTHING to do with compromises on Blizzard's end, other then a little blurb at the very end where the guy sueing Blizzard takes a stab at them for supposedly not following legal prociedure regarding reporting the most recent breach.

The Meat of the Lawsuit has to do with the claim that blizzard is somehow wrongfully profiting off of sales of an OPTIONAL, user end security measure, based on the assertion that the standard level of account protection offered out of the box is insufficient. Which is horseshit, since it is NOT Blizzards duty to make sure YOUR computer is secure, or that YOU are not a drooling, Intenet Illiterate moron.

Blizzard being accountable for compromise of THEIR systems leading to data compromise is NOT IN ANY WAY equal to Blizzard being accountable for compromise of YOUR system leading to data compromise.

From the #1 Cata review on Amazon.com: "Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes.
They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community."